Baydaar Project Part 1 Corrected.docx

NUST Business School MKT-535 Marketing Management

Submitted To: Ma’am Rabeil Khan Submitted By: Team: The 3Ds Ahmad Jamal Akhtar Amin Aniqa Ijaz Hurima Khan Mahnoor Khalid MBA 2K18-B

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“Our Lord, indeed YOU know what we conceal and what we declare, and nothing is hidden from Allah on the earth or in the heaven.” (Surah IBRAHIM- Ayah 38)

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Acknowledgement We thank all the participants and customers of Baydaar who helped us in making this research possible by sharing their reviews and comments. We would also show our sincere gratitude to the owner of Baydaar Mr. Ijlal Khattak for providing us full insight and information that greatly assisted our research. We are also immensely grateful to Ms. Rabeel khan for assisting us throughout our research work by giving her valuable comments.

The 3Ds MBA-2k18 Section-B

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TABLE OF CONTENTS: Quranic Verse.............................................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgement ....................................................................................................................................... 3 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Company ................................................................................................................................................ 6 1.2 Team Profile ........................................................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Services .................................................................................................................................................. 6 1.4 Competitors ........................................................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Customers ............................................................................................................................................ 6 2. KEY FINDINGS ..................................................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Questionnaire Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Observations ......................................................................................................................................... 7 2.3 In-depth Interviews: .............................................................................................................................. 8 2.4 Focus Groups...................................................................................................................................... 8 3. 4PS OF BAYDAAR TRAVELLERS .................................................................................................... 9 3.1 Product/Service .................................................................................................................................... 9 3.2 Promotion ............................................................................................................................................ 9 3.3 Place ................................................................................................................................................... 10 3.4 Price .................................................................................................................................................. 10 4. General Marketing Strategies .............................................................................................................. 12 5. Critical Issues ........................................................................................................................................ 12 6.SMART Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 12 6.1 Interviews Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 13 Interview-1 ................................................................................................................................................. 13 Interview-2 ................................................................................................................................................. 15 Interview-3 ................................................................................................................................................. 18 Interview-4 ................................................................................................................................................. 20 Interview-5 ................................................................................................................................................. 22 Interview-6 ................................................................................................................................................. 25 Interview-7 ................................................................................................................................................. 26 Interview-8 ................................................................................................................................................. 28 Interview-9 ................................................................................................................................................. 30 Interview-10 ............................................................................................................................................... 32 4|Page

6.3 Focus Group Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 35 Adults ......................................................................................................................................................... 35 Families ...................................................................................................................................................... 38 6.2 Questionnaire Appendix......................................................................................................................... 43 5. Exhibits .................................................................................................................................................... 44

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INTRODUCTION Company: Baydaar Travellers Industry: Travelling & Tourism Team profile: 

Ijlal Asghar Khattak (CEO)

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Hassam Ali Shah (Co-founder & Director)

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Waliya Najib (Marketing Head)

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Zakriya Noor (Coordinator)

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Sohaib (PR Manager)

Target Market: 

Adults

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Families

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Peace-seekers

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Professionals

Competitors: 

Falcon Adventure Club

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Eagle Adventure Club

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Trek and Tours

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SK Tours

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Pak Adventures

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Malik Travellers, etc.

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Key Findings (Consumer Research Analysis) 1. Observations: According to the observations, it has been interpreted that the customers find Baydaar Travels convenient and secure platform for travelling with friends and families. Because they provide friendly environment, they accommodate with best possible hotels and their vehicles are comfortable which ensures satisfactory transportation services. The team of BT is adequately cooperative and friendly in fact they organize activities (games, competition, etc.) However, few customers find the agency waste of time & money because they (especially boys) think that they can easily arrange and manage trips as the transportation and accommodation is easily available. Majority of people have complained about the limitation and quality of food they provide. The customers whine for not having the food if they had instant demand to have it. 2. Questionnaires: The targeted customers of Baydaar Travelers majorly are the students or young people with age ranges between 18-30 and who have limited pocket money below 30,000, with less purchasing power to spend it on regular trips. Majority of boys prefer to travel with their friends by planning their trips themselves instead of utilizing any agency’s services. While the girls and families find it convenient to travel via travelling agencies. Therefore, according to our survey, 33.3% of the existing & potential customers are males whereas 66.7% of girls have travelled or want to travel with Baydaar Travels or other agencies. Few of the families own their own vehicles so they prefer to travel themselves while few acknowledge organized trips with convenience & security. 3. Interviews: The results from interviews show that professionals, adults and families are more attracted towards experiencing travelling agencies because they consider their services convenient and safe. However, adults have concerns about pricing because mostly this segment belongs to students with limited pocket money. Families prefer the agency which delivers quality food and safe areas where the children can play around or are safe. There are many rooms left for improvement for Baydaar team

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as they have limited places, least promotion strategies and very casual behavior towards marketing. 4. Focus groups: We have conducted two focus group interviews. One group was consists of adults (students plus professionals) and other group consisted of families. The result from former showed that their first priority to choose any agency would be cost of the trip. Besides, they want to travel every sight of Pakistan (Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and KPK) and Baydaar team usually travels to northern areas and also hardly 40% of the focus group knew about them. On the contrary, the families prefer sound places and safe environment. They prefer to use their own vehicles but for longer routes they can take services of travelling agencies. 25% of the families knew about Baydaar Team while the rest were unaware of this agency.

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4Ps OF MARKETING MIX 1. PRODUCT/SERVICE: Baydaar is company which provides tour and travel services. So, their services include all the tourism location, transportation, accommodation and the entertainment provided by them. In the light of detailed consumer analysis of Baydaar we found out that they are perceived as professional, secure and friendly travelling and tourism service providers, which people like to prefer over other travel agencies. If we look at the statistics obtained from our research, more than 50% of the customers recognize Baydaar Travels as very friendly and professional. They have managed to establish themselves as a competent travelling company. Baydaar travels being a new entrant in the travel and tourism sector have managed to spread information about them through social media only, still they have organized a good number of successful trips. So, according to the survey, interviews and group discussions we found out that their biggest strength is their social media presence and positive word of mouth through which Baydaar Travels has attracted large number of customers. Baydaar Travel collaborates with social media influencers and celebrities to endorse their services through their pages, this also helps them in growing their customer base. According to customers Baydaar Travels provide the most fun filled experience that is matchless and unforgettable, people who have traveled with other agencies as well believe that Baydaar Travels is preferable when it comes to amusement. In customers perspective, the biggest weakness they highlighted was their high prices. As their target market consists of youth only, who have limited income and can’t afford such expensive trips. 2. PROMOTION: As we have discussed above, most of the promotion of Baydaar travels is done through social media that is why they fail to attract many of their potential customers, so it can be concluded that their promotional strategy is weak and causal. Many people are still unaware of Baydaar our statistics showed that more than 40% of their customers learnt about Baydaar travel through Facebook/Instagram. Also, they don’t have a specified target market, so it can also be said that they have not implemented the marketing concepts while making their business plan. The only promotion they practice is either through social media (“Instagram in specific; Facebook, less effective) or through “Word-of-Mouth” advertising.

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The company doesn’t even have a proper logo and tag line that why people are unable to identify their presence, they don’t have a website where people can look up for the latest trips, discounts or any other information. The customers believe that the agency is not popular as its competitors (Falcon Adventure Club, SK Tours, Eagle Adventure Club etc.). People pointed out that Baydaar only promotes through bloggers, photographers or social influencers as strategy to grab their followers. While there is a bunch of adventurous & potential customers that Baydaar can attract by executing proper promotional strategy. 3. PLACE: If we look at the services channel of Baydaar travels it is a platform between the customers and service providers, providing accommodation, food and transportation facilities along with the tour and sightseeing of places they travel. According to the statistics we collected more than 50% of the customers are satisfied with the accommodation and around 85% are satisfied with the transportation facilities. Baydaar Travels has a single station for departure in Islamabad, which makes the people to visit that station first and then leave for the destination. Many people who wants to travel don’t choose this agency because they find it inconvenient traveling to Islamabad first and then to long-route trip. While, the competitors provide three different stations e.g. Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. 4. PRICE: Followed by as we wrote earlier most of the customers of Baydaar Travels are students who find their services highly priced as compared to competitors whose charges are comparatively lower. Around 60%-70% of people have concern about their budget while planning any trip. There are mixed opinions of the customers about pricing but above average has agreed that this agency has priced high for their trips. Still, the female travelers voiced the supporting words that we pay them extra but at the same time, they manage things for us so it’s a fruitful tradeoff. The students have limited pocket money so many of them told us about their economical trip that they had experienced worth 10,000-15000 for Skardu for which the agency normally charges 26000.

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Customers quoted, whenever they plan a trip 35% are concerned about the prices and 39% are more concerned about the attractiveness of the location. Baydaar travels claims to follow economy pricing strategy for their services, whereas customers have a slightly different point of view. According to customers they are charging high for what they are offering as compared to the competitors.

GENERAL MARKETING STRATEGY: Baydaar Travelers is going good so far because they have started 28-months ago (on July 5, 2017). They are on introductory & growth stage so there are many rooms for the organization to explore, experiment, and improve. There are some considerations that should get attention of the firm (according to our analysis); 

The agency should establish an office setup so that people can have meetings with the team, they can approach them and leave the complaints (if any).

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The agency should provide shuttle service (if it can’t provide a spate station) to other big cities where the potential customers are more. This way BT can target more customers and more people will know about the agency.

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The universities’ clubs set the prices low so maximum students prefer to acquire university club’s services. Baydaar Travelers should revise their pricing strategy and introduce student packages that will help the firm to attract more potential customers.

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Baydaar Travelers must use aggressive marketing strategies by targeting multiple marketing platforms (billboards, TV-ads, sponsoring events at big universities, etc.)

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The agency should consider arranging trips to South and East of Pakistan as there are many places that the people should know about and that can increase the tourism rate of Pakistan.

CRITICAL ISSUES: 

Promotional Strategy and advertising: They are only promoting through social media, have no website, no physical setup and less awareness of the brand.

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Prices: They charge more than the competitors and don’t provide good value for money.

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Geographical Extension: They only arrange trips to the northern areas (limited locations) and operate only through Islamabad. 11 | P a g e

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Mission and Vision: They don’t have appropriate mission and vision. Since they just started out as group of friends, that’s why they don’t have a proper team with marketing and management expertise.

SMART OBJECTIVES: 

Design ten trips in Balochistan and South of Pakistan within next 8 months to increase customer base by 25%.

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To revise the pricing and reduce the prices 5% for families and 10% for students for next one year in order to increase market share by 5%.

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Appendix # 1 Transcripts of Consumer Behavior Research

INTERVIEW # 1 Interviewer: Hurima Khan Interviewee: Meesha Fatima Language Preference: Bilingual (Basic Information) Age: 22 Education: Bachelors Occupation: Research Assistant at SEECS Approximate income: 25,000

1. How often do you travel? I usually travel a lot. I travel once or twice in month. It makes me feel healthy and energetic. 2. Do you travel by yourself or with tour company? I prefer traveling with tour companies with my friends because all the arrangements were made by the company. So, they are convenient basically. 3. Which tourism companies you are aware of? I have heard about many tour companies some of them are Falcon, Baydaar Travels, Pak Adventures and tours etc. 4. How did you hear about Baydaar? One of my friend told me about Baydaar so I heard about them through word of mouth and through social media advertisements like Facebook and Instagram. 5. What’s the first think comes to your mind when you hear the name “BAYDAAR” 13 | P a g e

Baydaar means to wake up. (JAAGNA) 6. What’s the USP of Baydaar which makes them different from others in traveling industry? Many families do travel with Baydaar so that would be a positive point for them because these companies usually attract youngsters. 7. What do you think about their promotion strategy and are they popular as compare to the other tourism companies like falcon and eagles adventure club. I believe they are not as popular as they should. They are using bloggers and vloggers for the promotion of their company on social media only. They should focus on ground promotions as well. 8. How many times you have traveled with them? I had travel once with Baydaar with my friends couple of months ago. We went to Skardu. I was a seven days trip organized by Baydaar. They charged 26k per person including all the transportation, food and hoteling cost. 9. Do you think facilities they give justify their prices? Value for money… their prices are high or low as compared to the competitors? Rate on basis of food, hotels, transport provided by them. In my opinion their prices are high as compared to their competitors like Eagle Adventure club organized the same trip in 20k or less than that. Baydaar should focus on their pricing strategy as well if that want to be consumer oriented. Rating price-3.5/5 food-3/5 transportation-3.5/5

10. Tell us one good thing about them and one bad thing based on your Experience.

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The good thing about Baydaar was their management. They were very professional yet corporative. They were following the whole schedule everything was in time. Food was limited and at camping sites food was slightly undercooked so that was a bad experience I had. They could have made it better as they were charging us for that. 11. Highlight one Strength and weakness of Baydaar. They are very good organizers so that would be their strength and I thought Baydaar major weakness is their weak promotion strategy they can accommodate more people but alot of people are still unaware of them because they lack guerrilla marketing. 12. What improvements you want from Baydaar in future? Any suggestions which can be added in their services All the traveling companies are focusing on northern areas of Pakistan, so I recommend Baydaar should move towards south and that too will help in promotions. 13. Would you recommend Baydaar to others? Yes, I would. INTERVIEW # 2 Interviewer: Aniqa Ijaz Interviewee: Shawal Mehek Language Preference: Bilingual (Basic Information) Age: 23 Education: Masters Occupation: Govt. lecturer Approximate income: 60,000

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1. How often do you travel? I travel usually once in a month or two. 2. Do you travel by yourself or with tour company? Mostly I used to travel with the University’s Adventure Club. I also traveled with trek and tour company once. We went to Mushkpuri with them. It was good, but it wasn’t up to the mark according to price we paid for it. It could be organized in better way. 3. Which tourism companies you are aware of? As I said earlier I am aware of Trek and tours, Pak Adventures, Baydaar travels and many adventure clubs of different Universities. 4. How did you hear about Baydaar? I have seen their Facebook page So, I heard about them through social media. I had no experience with them, but my friends visited Hunza with them so, I can share their experience with you guys’. 5. What’s the first think comes to your mind when you hear the name “BAYDAAR” The first thing into my mind when I heard the name Baydaar is “to be aware of something”. 6. What’s the USP of Baydaar which makes them different from others in traveling industry? Baydaar’s staff is very friendly and corporative. They create a family like environment throughout the trip. They involve you in every activity. They are keen about their reputation, so they talk to people and solve the queries as much as possible. Many companies don’t do that 7. What do you think about their promotion strategy and are they popular as compare to the other tourism companies like Falcon and Eagles Adventure Club.

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They are not as popular as Falcon, but they have got really good review on Facebook. They should enhance their marketing to attract large number of people. 8. Do you think facilities they give justify their prices? Value for money… their prices are high or low as compared to the competitors? Rate on basis of food, hotels, transport provided by them. As far as prices are concerned they are bit high for students. May be families could manage such prices but for students they are high. 9. Tell me one good thing about them and one bad thing based on your Experience. Security could be a bad thing because if something bad happens like land sliding etc. So, they usually don’t have any backup plan for that and the positive point is they are easily approachable and convenient. 10. Highlight one Strength and weakness of Baydaar. Strength I would say their staff and management and weakness would be high prices because as a student you can’t afford such high rates when other companies are offering same package at low rates. 11. What improvements you want from Baydaar in future? Any suggestions which can be added in their services To lower their prices and they don’t have an office setup so It would be good to have a physical place for meetings.

12. Would you recommend Baydaar to others

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I had no experience, but my friends suggested me to travel with them because they enjoyed a lot. INTERVIEW # 3 Interviewer: Mahnoor Khalid Interviewee: Yousaf Language Preference: Bilingual (Basic Information) Age: 27 Education: Masters Occupation: --Approximate income: 50,000

1. Do you travel by yourself or with some tour company? Most of the times I travel by my own, but when I am to travel to a place which unknown to me than I prefer to hire some travel company 3. which tour companies are you aware of? Mention their names. I am aware of few companies, like Eagle, Malik Travels and Baydaar travels and so on. 4. how did you hear about Baydaar travels? I heard it from one of my friends, who used to travel with this agency. 5. what comes in your mind when you hear the word Baydaar? It means ‘Agahi’ in Urdu. I think what they are intending to portray is that, us Pakistani’s don’t about our land and beautiful places of our own territory, and its beauty so they are trying to help us to see these places. 18 | P a g e

6. what do you think about the promotional strategy of Baydaar? Is it up to the mark? No, it’s not up to the mark. They should work on that. 7: how many times did you travel with Baydaar? I have travelled with them three times. 8. do you think that their prices justify their services? Yeah, as I have also travelled with some other agencies as well, so their prices are very reasonable. 9. Rank Baydaar in three parameters; price, food, transportation, you are to give Baydaar marks out of five. Price- 4/5 Food- 3/5* Transportation- 4/5 *food was not what I expected it to be. 10. Tell us one good & one bad thing about Baydaar, based on your experience?] Good thing is that they are well organized, so you don’t face any difficulty when travelling with them. The bad thing is that their transportation facility is only available from Islamabad, as I live in Peshawar, so it becomes somewhat troublesome for me to first come to Islamabad and then join the team. 11. Any suggestion to Baydaar, for their service improvement?

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They should provide shuttle service to their customers belonging to cities, other than their cities where they are to join their rest of the group. INTERVIEW # 4 Interviewer: Akhtar Amin Interviewee: Harris Abdullah Language Preference: Bilingual (Basic Information) Age: 25 Education: Bachelors

Occupation: --Approximate income: 28,000

1. How often do you travel? I am not a frequent traveler. I travel once in a year. 2. Do you travel by yourself or with some tour company? Most of the times I travel by my own and with my friends, but once I travelled with a tour company. 4. which tour companies are you aware of? Mention their names. I know about, Baydaar travels, falcon and Aarifa travels and so on. 5. how did you hear about Baydaar travels? One of my friends told me about this tour company. 6. what comes in your mind when you hear the word Baydaar?

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It means to wake up, but basically, it’s a tour company so I imagine of mountains and beautiful places when I hear this word. 7. what do you think about the promotional strategy of Baydaar? Is it up to the mark? No, I think it’s not up to the mark because I personally never heard about them form any social media sites, like Facebook, Instagram etc. 8: how many times did you travel with Baydaar? I have travelled with them once. 9. do you think that their prices justify their services? Their prices are moderate, their services were also good enough but the food they served was not pleasing. 10. Rank Baydaar in three parameters; price, food, transportation, you are to give Baydaar marks out of five. Price-3/5 Food- 1/5** Hoteling- 5/5 Transportation- 3/5 ** One out of five score to food was due to the low-quality food and laxity in serving food. 11. tell us one good & one bad thing about Baydaar, based on your experience?

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Good part of the trip was their management team and camping and they were much disciplined. The bad thing was their marketing. They need to spend more on their promotional and marketing strategies. 12. tell us one strength & one weakness of Baydaar? Main weakness I observed was their slow marketing and strength was their team which was well disciplined and organized. 13. any suggestion to Baydaar, for their service improvement? My suggestion to Baydaar is to increase their visiting sites accompanied with speedy improvement in their marketing. INTERVIEW # 5 Interviewer: Ahmed Jamal Interviewee: Fahad Iqbal Language Preference: Bilingual (Basic Information) Age: 32 Education: M-phil Occupation: Research Assistant at Lums Approximate income: 45,000 1. How often do you travel? I really like to travel so whenever I get a chance to travel I’d love to go to different places with my friends. Sometimes we just go randomly without a proper just to get away from boring daily routine. If we have less time we plan accordingly to the nearby areas. 2. Do you travel by yourself or with tour company?

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It depends e.g. If I am travelling with my friends I’d prefer to travel to travel alone. We want to organize everything by ourselves but If I am travelling alone I would be more feasible for me to travel with some company because managing everything alone is a very difficult task. 3. Which tourism companies you are aware of? I am familiar of Falcon, Baydaar travels, Memon Travel and tours and many other local companies. 4. How did you hear about Baydaar? I have seen Baydaar’s Instagram page. The page is very active. You can track all the information about their past and upcoming tours from the page as they regularly post updates there. My friend also told me about the Baydaar as well. 5. What’s the first think comes to your mind when you hear the name “BAYDAAR” Hmm “smiles” …. ‘Active’ I would say. 6. What’s the USP of Baydaar which makes them different from others in traveling industry? Baydaar’s time management is quite good. Every time they follow the schedule give to customers. 7. What do you think about their promotion strategy and are they popular as compare to the other tourism companies like falcon and eagles adventure club. They are popular on social media only, but Falcon has its own website and proper setup. So; Baydaar should focus on that. 8. How many times you have traveled with them? I had only one-time experience of travelling with Baydaar. I went to Skardu with them.

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9. Do you think facilities they give justify their prices? Value for money… their prices are high or low as compared to the competitors? Rate on basis of food, hotels, transport provided by them. I think their prices are high as compared to services provided by them. Food 3.5/5 * Price 4.5/5 Transportation 5/5 ** *Because food they provided was limited. And while trekking no refreshments were given to us. **They were using smooth and very comfortable vehicles. 10. Tell me one good thing about them and one bad thing? Experience The good thing was there management of whole event and for me bad thing was high rates because other companies are providing the same services at low rates. 11. What improvements you want from Baydaar in future? Any suggestions which can be added in their services They are only focusing on northern part of Pakistan so, I would suggest they should also focus on south Pakistan as well like Gwadar, Quetta etc. In this way people from north would also get a chance to visit these places. Take some steps for improvement in accommodation as well. INTERVIEW # 6 Interviewer: Aniqa Ijaz Interviewee: Aqeel Azhar Language Preference: Bilingual (Basic Information) Age: 50 24 | P a g e

Education: Bachelors Occupation: Executive Engineer (Irrigation) Approximate income: 85,000

1. How often you travel and with whom mostly? (Like with family or friends?) Off course I prefer to travel with family mostly, but I don’t travel much. 2. Share your experience about these travel companies as you travelled a lot. I mostly plan travel with my family because we have the freedom to enjoy every place we are going to, but it depends upon the place we are planning to visit. Usually our children decide. 3. Which travel companies are you aware of? There are many companies, but I am only familiar with Pak trek and tours, Eagles Adventure Club. 4. Did you hear the name “Baydaar Travels” before? No, I am sorry I am hearing this name from you for the first time. 5. Are you an active Facebook user? How do you now about Falcon and Eagles? I rarely use social media because of my job and I don’t find social media useful. Falcon was sponsoring an event and my kids told me about, so I get to know about them. 6. Any one positive and one negative aspect you would like to mention about these travel companies? Negative aspect is that they charge much higher than what they should charge for the trip. I can’t say about their positive points. 7. Any recommendations for Baydaar? They should work on marketing because I really don’t know about this company.

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INTERVIEW # 7 Interviewer: Hurima Khan Interviewee: Maryem Qindeel Language Preference: Bilingual (Basic Information) Age: 31 Education: Masters Occupation: Graphic Designer Approximate income: 40,000

1. How often do you travel? I am doing a job, so I usually travel as I get some vacations. 3. Do you travel by yourself or with some tour company? Most of the times, I travel with my cousins. If we have our own vehicle available but sometimes we also hire some tour company when we are to travel with cousins and other university colleagues. 4. Which tour companies are you aware of? Mention their names. I am aware of few companies, like Pakistan Adventure Club, Aariifa travels. I have travelled with Falcon Adventure Club twice. 5. Did you hear about Baydaar? If yes than, how did you hear about them? I have travelled with Baydaar twice, once towards Kashmir and Narran. One of my friends told me of this agency when we were planning for Kashmir trip, so this was how I heard about Baydaar. 6. what comes in your mind when you hear the word Baydaar? 26 | P a g e

It means to awake. 7. what do you think about the promotional strategy of Baydaar? Is it up to the mark? No, their promotion is not so aggressive because very less number of people know about them. They still must work more on their promotion. 8: how many times did you travel with Baydaar? I have travelled with them twice. 9. do you think that their prices justify their services? Yes, their prices are very accommodating as compared to the rest of the agencies in this industry. 10. Rank Baydaar in three parameters; price, food, transportation, you are to give Baydaar marks out of five. Price- 4/5 Food- 3/5 Transportation- 4/5 11. Tell us one good & one bad thing about Baydaar, based on your experience? The good thing about them is that their staff was well behaving and bad thing about them is that they did not give as refreshment when we demanded for. 12. Tell us one strength & weakness of Baydaar? Their weakness is poor advertisement and strength is that they do have the potential to further strengthen their position in the market in future.

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INTERVIEW # 8 Interviewer: Ahmed Jamal Interviewee: Mrs. Abdullah Language Preference: Bilingual (Basic Information) Age: 32 Education: Bachelors Occupation: Research Assistant Approximate income: 25,000

1. Right! How often you travel and with whom mostly? (Like with family or friend) I travel once a month and prefer to travel with husband and children. 2. How do hear about these travel companies I have heard about them through friends, children, social media and banners etc.

3. Did you travel with Baydaar? Yes, I went to Naran with them. It was a good experience exploring such beautiful places with them. 4. Alright! What do you think, what makes one company different from another? I mean what make a company unique from another? Every company has its own uniqueness. So according to budget Baydaar is doing their best. So, everyone is good. 5. Any one positive and one negative aspect you would like to mention about Baydaar?

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I don’t know much about the place, so they make posts about the place prior which attracted me to explore these places and take responsibility of you regarding trip so it’s a positive aspect. There were some privacy issues all of us were accommodated in one hotel so there were families, so we were not given freedom that would be negative one. 6. Ok tell me, what influences you to travel with these companies? I think we feel safe with them because they are experienced, and they know where exactly we should go. 7. Any recommendations for these travel companies? I just want to say to make better pricing for children etc. They should’ve lower their rates to attract more families who take their kids with them INTERVIEW # 9 Interviewer: Akhtar Amin Interviewee: Ahmed Nawaz Language Preference: Bilingual (Basic Information) Age: 42 Education: Bachelors Occupation: Marketing Manager Approximate income: 45,000

1. How often do you travel? I travel once in two three months and I prefer traveling with friends. 2. Do you travel by yourself or with tour company? I prefer traveling with companies because they manage everything for you very well. 3. Which tourism companies you are aware of? 29 | P a g e

I am aware of Explore the Unexplore, falcon Adventure Club, Baydaar etc. 4. How did you hear about Baydaar? I heard about Baydaar through social media marketing i-e Facebook, Instagram. 5. What’s the first think comes to your mind when you hear the name “BAYDAAR” I would say Baydaar means being Active. 6. What’s the USP of Baydaar which makes them different from others in traveling industry? USP must be their staff. They are very professional, and CSR also made them different from others like they plant trees and they also try to maintain cleanliness. 7. What do you think about their promotion strategy and are they popular as compare to the other tourism companies like falcon and eagles adventure club. They are not popular to that extent their competitors are but on social media they are doing good because I personally heard about them through social media. 8. How many times you have traveled with them? I travelled with them once to Hunza. 9. Do you think facilities they give justify their prices? Value for money… their prices are high or low as compared to the competitors? I think prices are relatively higher than the competitors. 10. What is the strength and weakness of Baydaar? I guess they made traveling easy for you that is the strength and weakness I would say sometimes there are management related issues regarding food limitation and accommodation etc.

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11. What improvements you want from Baydaar in future? Any suggestions which can be added in their services Prices are high, so they need to focus on that If they want to attract more people. Because I believe price is the major factor people look up to before traveling somewhere. 12. Would you recommend Baydaar to others? Yes, I would. INTERVIEW # 10 Interviewer: Mahnoor Khalid Interviewee: Sania Rabeil Language Preference: Bilingual (Basic Information) Age: 28 Education: Bachelors Occupation: House Wife Approximate income: 25,000

1. How often do you travel? It depends basically on our group, in which we are 5 people. We travel a lot by going to Northern areas. Other than we have been to Baluchistan and Sindh also. 2. Do you travel by yourself or with some tour company? It depends what place are we going to, like when we go to Sindh and Baluchistan, the travel agencies don’t take us there, so we must go by our self. Otherwise when we go to north we do go with travel companies. 3. Which tour companies are you aware of? Mention their names.

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I know about a lot of companies, but I have travelled with Tourist a ran by Abdul Rehman. They are based in Lahore. Other than that, I am aware of Bilal travels. After coming to Islamabad, I came to know of Baydaar travels. 4. How did you hear about Baydaar? One of my friends living in Rawalpindi told me about this company. 5. What comes in your mind when you hear the word Baydaar? It is basically a word from Urdu language, so it means ‘Jaghna’. 6. 7. What is the unique thing differentiating Baydaar from rest of its competitors? Baydaar is providing very good services. I have travelled with a tourist as well; that was an amazing experience. So, the service quality of Baydaar is the only thing keeping it unique in the tourism industry. 7. What do you think about the promotional strategy of Baydaar? Is it up to the mark? No, because if it was up to the mark I wouldn’t said that I came to know about this from one of my friends. They are in dire need of promoting themselves. I think they should use billboards and other tools to get themselves marketed. If I were in Baydaar I would have been targeting universities; like NUST, it’s a big university with multiple adventure clubs. So, it would have been my one of the top priorities, where I wanted to come. I would have distributed pamphlets and would have displayed billboards in family gatherings too. 8. How many times did you travel with Baydaar? I have travelled with them once. 9. Do you think that their prices justify their services? They should lower their prices, as rest of the firms in this industry are having very cheap prices.

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10. Rank Baydaar in three parameters; price, food, transportation, you are to give Baydaar marks out of five. Price- 3/5 Food- 4/5 Transportation- 5/5** ** five out of five to transportation is due the quality transport they provided us during our stay. We were pretty much comfortable in that. 11. Tell us one strength & one weakness of Baydaar? Their strength is their service, especially their transportation. And as for as weakness is concerned, they need to improve a lot as I mentioned their marketing in not so aggressive, so they need to work on that. And they also need to focus on more areas like prices are bit high than the rest of companies. 12. Any suggestion to Baydaar, for their service improvement? They should move to other areas as well rather than being stuck only on northern areas. They should take people to the other beautiful areas as well towards Punjab and Baluchistan etc.

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Focused Group # 1 Members: Ahmed, Bilal, Hafsa, Daniya, Elia, Farooq and Ghazal. Questioned By: Hurima Khan Q. Do you guys like to tour and travel? Yes. Q. Do you guys prefer to travel with family or friends? Ahmed: Both, it depends on the situation; it can be a family trip or a friends plan. Ghazal: If I am feeling adventurous, I like to travel by myself. Q. Do you people like to travel on your own or with a travelling and tourism agencies? Ahmed: If I travel on my own, it gets very hectic to manage everything e.g. food, accommodation and transport especially. So, I personally prefer to travel with a travel agency, it basically saves me from the hassle of managing everything along with the tiresome travelling. Everything is preplanned, so it provides convenience. Bilal: If I travel with my family, I like to do that through a travelling agency because everything gets done through a proper channel and it’s safe. But sometimes when friends make plan, we end up going on our own just to keep the adventurous spirit alive. Daniya: In Pakistan, it’s quite difficult for the girls to travel on their own, because of the safety concerns. So, whenever there’s a plan we reach out to a travelling and tourism company to enjoy a secure trip. Q. What is your prime concern when you plan to travel? Is it the budget or the enjoyment? 34 | P a g e

Elia: It’s the budget usually, since we are students we have to look after our expenses. Q. Let’s talk about the pricing. Do you guys think that travelling agencies charge fair prices for their services? Ahmed: The travel agency I have travelled with is economical as compared to managing expenses on my own. So, I’ll always prefer that. Ghazal: Being honest, travelling agencies do charge extra, but it saves you from the hassle so it’s better to pay the extra price for the comfort it provides. Q. Have you guys heard of Baydaar Travels? Yes. Q. What do you guys know about Baydaar Travels? Ahmed: I don’t know a lot about them, but I have seen their pictures a lot while scrolling through my social media. Bilal: I have heard about them through friends who have travelled with them. Q. Can you guys highlight strengths or weaknesses of any travelling agency? Please share your opinion? Ghazal: It promotes the culture of travelling and exploring the natural hidden beauty of our motherland. Due to existence of such travelling agencies people have started showing more willingness to travel. I believe that more travelling and tourism agencies should be started so that we can promote tourism in Pakistan on a global level.

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Farooq: When you travel with an agency, you have no command over the food and accommodation and, that is exactly where these agencies take advantage of the vulnerability of their customers. In my opinion, they need to raise their standards when it comes to food and accommodation. Elia: Travelling agencies have their own time table and travelling plan which all of the travelers have to follow. So, they cannot decide where they want to spend most of their time. Q. What opportunities do you think travel agencies can avail and is there any room for improvement? Daniya: As far as travelling agencies based in Islamabad are concerned, they keep on taking their customers to the hilly areas. I would like to suggest them to also organize trips to other tourism spots. Q. Overall, in your opinion, what do you think is more preferable? Travelling through an agency or by own means? Hafsa: I believe that travelling by own means is far more stressful and you don’t enjoy as much, since, you must look after everything. I remember the last time I went with my family, we used to arrive at a place and then it would take an hour or so to find a rest house, and when it came to sightsee we missed a lot of places. But, there was another trip that I went on with my friends through a travel agency, I enjoyed a lot and was able to visit every place in time.

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Focused Group # 2 Members: Aqeel Azhar, Talal Asfar, Ushna Shah, Mrs. Naila Kanwal, Maaz Ashar, Aizad Yar and Ms. Zonash Malik. Discussed By: Mahnoor Khalid and Akhtar Amin Q: How often do you guys travel? Aqeel Azhar: Normally in the summer vacations and winter vacations, whenever my family demands or when i have ample amount of time to de stress and travel. Q. Do you guys prefer to travel with family or friends? Aqeel Azhar: with both family and friends. But usually I travel with my wife and children. Ms. Zonash Malik: It depends. If it’s the northern areas, then I might visit only once a year and since it’s far, I ‘d prefer to go along with my family. Q. Do you people like to travel on your own or with a travelling and tourism agencies? Aqeel Azhar: Usually what happens is that travelling agencies offer pre-set dates and plans which might not be feasible with your schedule, so, when I make a plan for travelling I keep everyone’s schedule in mind and usually make it with my family, we go on our own following the travelling pattern travelling agencies follow. Talal Asfar: When it comes to travelling abroad, I like to contact a travelling agency but, when I am travelling inside Pakistan I do it on my own, since transport and accommodation facilities are easily available. And my family is more comfortable with personal vehicles and drivers. Q. Do you find travel agencies expensive? 37 | P a g e

Aqeel Azhar: Yes, if you visit Hunza or the northern areas with travel agency, they charge you around 24,000-26,000 PKR. But on the other hand, I once travelled with my driver, we had to bear 10,000 each. Mrs. Naila Kanwal: I would disagree here, because when I traveled with my family to Hunza by my own means, I ran short of money and couldn’t afford the services travel agencies like Baydaar travels were providing in similar price range. The reason behind that was our poor management. Travel agencies have everything sorted out and also, they have drivers who know shorter routes which also save time and money. So, in my opinion, travel agencies like Baydaar are preferable. Aizad Yar: A few years back I got to visit Mushkpuri and Khanpur Dam along with my family. The

trips

were

organized

by

travelling

agency

and

were

very

economical.

Aizad Yar: Also, I have never really travelled with Baydaar Travels, but I have heard a lot about them from colleagues and families, they also have an extensive presence over social media. Many social media influencers, photographers and bloggers promote their company by collaborating and travelling with them. What I have learnt through following these influencers is that, though they are a little pricier but they also provide you the services accordingly. So overall, it’s a good value for money.

Q. What benefits do travelling agencies provide? Aqeel Azhar: It’s a very good opportunity for people who don’t travel a lot mostly because of the hassle that comes along with the travelling, here they can find everything all planned and sorted out for them, all they must think about is the travelling and enjoyment.

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Mrs. Naila Kanwal: Also, these agencies are very preferable if a family wants to travel, youngsters can prefer travelling on their own, but it might get difficult for the families due to safety reasons. Aizad Yar: Also, if safety and security is concerned, if girls want to travel on their own, parents don’t allow them easily. But when a platform like Baydaar ensures safety, it also encourages the parents to let their children travel by themselves. Maaz Ashar: A friend’s family recently travelled with Baydaar and she shared a very positive experience with me. According to her the experience was very safe, secure and comfortable. Q. Can you highlight any weaknesses of Baydaar Travels? Aizad Yar: It’s the price. It would be better if they can manage to reduce them a little. Ms. Zonash Malik: They should come up with more packages according to various budget ranges for families who travel with young children. Aqeel Azhar: Lowering the prices would also help them in reaching out to a large number of potential customers and that’s how they can manage the loss, if there is any. Q. What people do you think Baydaar travels is trying to target? Maaz Ashar: As of now, if we look at their social media marketing they are only targeting youngsters. But, according to me if they want to expand their target market they should also offer packages that families find attractive. Aizad Yar: And if we talk about families only, there are a lot of traveling agencies that offer cheaper packages than Baydaar who only target youngsters. So, Baydaar should keep in mind the discount factor for families who have to manage everything in their limited pocket money. 39 | P a g e

Ms. Zonash Malik: They should emphasize more on marketing and should offer different packages for different marketing segments. Because every family can’t afford to pay high prices if the family is extended. Talal Asfar: Because currently they are only promoting their company through their social media presence. I have no idea of their logo or have never seen a proper advertisement. All I know is their name and a few pictures that I have seen over the internet, which I don’t think are enough to promote a tourism and travelling agency. Aqeel Azhar: They should also hire professional photographer who market the services of Baydaar Travels by adding their logo along with the photographer watermark in the pictures. They should find activities to attract children. Aizad Yar: I think, they should also release some teasers and videos from their prior trips. They should also use multiple marketing platforms to advertise their services (TV, newspapers), because social media only follows the trends, it gets difficult to keep up with them on an everyday basis. Q. What suggestions would like to give to Baydaar Travels? Ms. Zonash Malik: They should spread more awareness about their service if they want to entertain a larger target market. A lot of families and older people hardly know about them. The only source they have is their children who tell you about different agencies. Maaz Ashar: They should target more segments. Families have more potential to invest hugely in travelling agencies.

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Aqeel Azhar: They should also promote travelling to Southern Pakistan as well. It also has a lot of worth visiting beautiful places. And I will prefer that my family has knowledge about historical places of Pakistan. Talal Asfar: They should also focus on lowering their prices as well. Besides, they should conduct brand awareness programs for families. Otherwise, why would I invest in such agency which has no big existence and also my family’s safety is important.

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Appendix # 2 Questionnaire Analysis

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